The wine to drink with humble pie is English. I am eating it now. Since initiating this column in March 1989 I have never had much of a good word to say for the home-grown product. But I have discovered a terrific English white wine which has compellingly forced itself upon my taste buds and so must rate 16 points out of 20. Of course, it is in short supply. Only 16 branches of Waitrose are pleased to stock it. Bacchus 2000 English Table Wine, from Shawsgate Vineyard in Suffolk, is certainly England's most adventurous and stylish bottle - and not only if we restrict ourselves to the label. It has more finesse than any other English wine I've tasted since I opened a bottle of Three Choirs Nouveau 1992 in 1999. At £7.99, it isn't cheap, but it's worth the money and extremely entertaining to have handy should your French or Italian neighbours drop in.

In response, your French neighbours, given the gift of extraordinary fine taste (or readership of this newspaper), might, from the same store, counter with Gaston Huet's Clos de Bourg Vouvray 1999. This gloriously individual Loire white wine calls itself demi-sec, but only to distinguish itself from Vouvrays that are generally on the sweet side. This has dry, honeyed fruit with baked nuts and marvellous minerally acids; cellared for five to nine years it might well reach 20 points. It deserves 17 points now, and every penny of £9.99.

Your Italian friends, in return, can offer Pietracalda Fiano di Avellino 2000. Always one of Italy's great white wines, this specimen offers quite wonderful textured fruit of highly tempered richness. It parades cashews, milk chocolate, raspberry, pineapple and, crucially, fine acids. A wine to drink in preference to much more expensive chardonnays from the usual suspects, it is available only by mail order and through limited London branches of Waitrose. It costs, ouch, £12.99 and it rates 17.5 points.

Norman Douglas, had he sampled this white wine, would surely have written that 'a man who has never tasted Fiano di Avellino has no views on white wine worthy of consideration'. Old Norm's reaction to the organic Wild Cat Catarratto 2000, another product of Italy, would, I suspect, have been disbelief - for the money. This wine will not be available at Waitrose for a couple of weeks, but it's worth waiting for, believe me. It has beautifully oily, crunchy fruit with raspberry, olives, melon and a touch of chive. Remarkably textured, it costs an absurd £4.49 and rates 16.5 points.

No less of a bargain is Saumur Les Nivières Rouge 2000. It has a striking minerally edge, slatey berries (black- and rasp-) and fine, lush tannins. Waitrose requires only £4.29 for a bottle, and it rates 16 points. Two further red bargains at this retailer are La Cité Cabernet Sauvignon Vin de Pays d'Oc 2000 (16.5 points, £3.99) and La Cetate Merlot 1999 (16.5 points, £4.99) from Romania.

The cabernet is superbly textured, uniting berries, acids, herbs, liquorice and tannins in outstanding harmony. The merlot has magnificently assertive tannins, great leathery berries and a rousing finish.

Morrisons has Santa Julia Cabernet Sauvignon 2000 (15.5 points, £4.99). More plummy than blackcurranty, for sure, but let no one gainsay its immense slurpability. Morrisons (and Tesco and Unwins) also has Fairview Shiraz 2000 (16 points, £6.49), from South Africa.

The wine has rich, soft, spicy fruit with lovely warm tannins, and the sum of these parts offers us a bonus: vivacity without soppiness and the character to go with so many dishes of the so-called 'ethnic fusion' school of cooking. Morrisons also has the delicious Faircape Chenin Blanc 2000 (15.5 points, £3.49), again South African, which is a thundering great bargain, apricot edged and lemon tinged.

Finally, to demonstrate Morrisons (and indeed Tesco) can compete with Waitrose on price, there is Montes Alpha Chardonnay 1998, from Chile. This is a marvellously couth, burgundy-style chardonnay with a complex textured richness. It rates 17.5 points, and costs £8.99.